Scott Parker previews West Ham United fixture
Josh Cullen first stepped into the West Ham environment 20 years ago, aged just nine.
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Coming through the academy, the midfielder would take on the role as ballboy as his current boss, Burnley chief Scott Parker, was in first-team action for the Hammers.
Fast forward to 2015, 10 years ago, and Cullen would go on to make his West Ham debut in a Europa League qualifier. He would make just two more outings for the East London outfit, spending the majority of his time out on loan with Bradford City, Bolton Wanderers and Charlton Athletic.
Looking back over the past decade, Cullen is pleased with the progress he’s made since those early days.
“I think I’ve developed a lot,” he said.
"I’ve had a lot of experiences along the way, loans, going abroad, playing for Anderlecht, coming back, promotions, relegations, international football. You just become a more well-rounded player.
"You go through your career and along the way, you think: ‘I need to develop in this area’, ‘I need to get better in this part of my game’, ‘I need to be a bit smarter here’, ‘I need to keep developing’.
Cullen in action for West Ham during a pre-season friendly in 2018 (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)placeholder image
Cullen in action for West Ham during a pre-season friendly in 2018 (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
“You’re always doing that, you’re always trying to chase getting better as a player and that’s not stopped for me. Ten years, it goes quick, but there have been a lot of improvements.”
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Now a captain in the Premier League, Cullen admits he takes a huge source of pride in how far he’s come.
“Of course, yeah,” he added. “Sometimes you do have to take a moment.
“You’re concentrating on the next game, the next training session, the next challenge ahead, but, yeah, to go from trying to break through at West Ham...it not quite materialising how I wanted it to in terms of breaking through into the first team, taking the punt to abroad and to go to Anderlecht, coming back to Burnley in the Championship, believing and thinking this is a club that would give me the best chance of getting back to the Premier League.
“Then doing that, getting relegated and then managing to bounce back again, so yeah, becoming captain is something you have to appreciate and I’m very proud to be captain this football club.
“When you do look at the journey and you take a minute to reflect on it, it’s been a been a great one and hopefully there’re more good times to come.”
Cullen never got to play alongside Parker during their time together at West Ham, but he still managed to learn a great deal from him given they’re both central midfielders.
“I was in the academy at West Ham when the manager was playing. I learned a lot of him though,” Cullen explained.
“He was an unbelievable player. When he was at West Ham, he was vital for West Ham as a club and almost carried the team at times.
“I used to go to the games, I was ballboy at the games when he was playing. I’d watch him and learn a lot from him.
“I’ve been lucky to work under him and I keep learning and I keep developing under him.”
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